WEST LOOP — A popular international cannabis brand with locations in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Toronto opened its first Chicago weed dispensary over the weekend.
Cookies opened Saturday in the West Loop at 215 N. Clinton St. The grand opening saw Clinton Street lined with rotating food trucks, a standstill “sesh bus” for smokers and numerous various vendors.
San Francisco rapper, Berner, launched Cookies in 2015, building it into a worldwide cannabis, lifestyle and culture brand. Its hugely popular weed strains, the creations of co-founder and cultivator Jai, arrived in Illinois in 2020 through a partnership with Ascend Wellness, the Sun-Times reported.
The New York Times recently reported that the success of the Cookies brand means Berner, 40, “is estimated to be one of the wealthiest rappers in the world, without having ever released a hit record.”
The roots of the company are in fashion, supplying some of Hip-Hop and urban culture’s outfits to celebrities like the late rapper Young Dolph, and rapper Soulja Boy, both born in Chicago.
“Cookies is like the Nike of the cannabis industry,” said Victor Bucaro, store manager at Cookies Chicago. “Cookies is about the experience. When you walk into some of these other dispensaries, it’s like walking into a bank and you’re talking to a tablet. We’re about getting to know the people.”
Shari Wilson, a South Sider, is the majority owner of Cookies Chicago and one of four co-owners, along with her husband. They lead the business with another couple, Timothy Kane and Jill Nabonsal, Wilson said.
The business is incorporated under Mint Ventures, LLC, which received a social equity license from the state in July 2022.
At the grand opening, Wilson smiled at the patrons lining up, bud tenders educating them on the various strands like Blue Agave and Golden Gate Bridge.
“We are vested in the community,” Wilson said. “The community was very involved in the opening of Cookies Chicago and hearing about the products and the safety of everyone here.”
As a Black woman business developer and investor, Wilson said she respects the needs of residents across the city, and she believes in the diversity of the cannabis industry.
“Cookies Chicago was also an opportunity to work in social equity,” Wilson said. “I thought it was important to show that we could come from the South Sides and West Sides and can supply and support people downtown and all over the city.”
Cookies joins a handful of city dispensaries with Black ownership, including Spark’d Cannabis in Wicker Park and South Loop, and Grasshopper Club in South Loop and Logan Square.
Trevon Lee, 25, attended Saturday’s grand opening because he walks past Clinton Street regularly and didn’t imagine there would be a dispensary opening up there.
“I shop in a lot of different dispensaries, but Cookies coming here to Chicago is a pretty big deal,” Lee said.
Major retail and restaurant closures have hit the Downtown area in recent months, including the Grand Lux Cafe on Michigan Avenue and Macy’s famous candy department in the basement of their State Street flagship. Other stores that have closed in recent years include the Mag Mile Macy’s, the Old Navy flagship on State Street, plus Abercrombie & Fitch, David’s Tea, Papyrus, Uniqlo, Gap, Topshop, Banana Republic and Cartier.
Despite that, the legal weed industry as thrived in the area. Other West Loop dispensaries include Zen Leaf in Greektown, 222 S. Halsted St., Nature’s Care, 810 W. Randolph St., and Dispensary 33, 1152 W. Randolph St. Several other dispensaries have opened in River North, as well.
Maggie Joyce Margaret, the lead bud tender at Cookies, said her goal after the first year is to be “the best dispensary in the state, possibly the Midwest.”
“Numbers will speak for themselves and I know that the Cookies name will bring people out regardless,” Margaret said. “Everybody loves good weed. And Chicago knows good weed.”
Cookies Chicago is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sundays. Customers receive a 25 percent discount for their first in-store purchase.
To learn more about Cookies Chicago, visit their website at www.cookieschicago.co.
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